Secrets of the Pharaohs

Sex! Drugs! Viagra! During the opening sequence of Unwrapping the Mummy, the final video in PBS's 3-volume set Secrets of the Pharaohs, I wasn't sure if I was watching a serious documentary on Egyptian culture, or viewing the lead-in tease to some tabloid TV-idiot-grabber. Fortunately, it turned out to be a legitimate program on ancient Egypt, revealing "startling" new information that would even make King Tut blush, as it took viewers on a high-tech scavenger hunt with some of the oldest clues known to man, in this case an Egyptian mummy from Luxor named Asru. With the aid of today's technology, a new autopsy using tissue slides and hair samples reveal a fascinating history: Asru was a noblewoman, roughly 50-years-old, who died her hair red (henna), and was a temple singer/dancer with bad knees and a worse back (a herniated disk, and fractured vertebrae). She had stomach parasites (causing diarrhea), lungs full of inhaled dessert sand, and the parasitic disease schistosomasis (considered a fairly modern affliction until now). Asru was the first mummy to undergo today's rigorous drug testing and while the doctors were looking for morphine, the chemical profile that came up included some properties found in the ancient blue lotus flower, which is chemically very similar to our modern ginkgo plant, a natural herb known for improving circulation (hence the sexual enhancement reference in the opening, bringing a whole new spin to the phrase "flower power"). Scientists believe this could explain why the blue lotus is so prominent in Egyptian art work and tomb walls. Nicely lensed, with excellent interview footage and solid reenactments, this is highly recommended. The two other titles in the boxed set are: Tut's Family Curse and Lost City of the Pyramids. Aud: H, C, P. (N. Plympton)